Pathways Through Flames -- a Sinnoh Trainer fanfic
by Quillinx
Summary: Penny's life collapses when her Fire type starter, Cyndaquil, burns down her house due to her careless actions. She runs away from her hometown, taking no supplies and trying to force faithful Cyndaquil to leave her alone. But mysterious things are happening, things that could be bigger than her grudge against Pokémon. Things that could involve her. Contains original character(s).
1. Chapter 1 -- Runaway

**Author's note: Well, okay, Quill tried her hand at a fanfiction. Go ahead, you can start laughing now. x,D No, but seriously, I don't think this first chapter is very good. I had to push to get through it, and I'm not all that satisfied (especially with all her reflectional filler stuff :P), but oh well. eux It will probably get into longer chapters when there's actually something to write about x_x **

**Thanks for reading~**

**Prologue**

For Penelope Burke, who is standing outside her house on a brisk spring night, time has come to a standstill.

She is thirteen years old, with long, coppery hair and greenish-blue eyes that are framed by thick, rectangular glasses, a little too big for her face and tilted slightly. Penny believes in being hipster, just like her sister. Plus, she's been nearsighted since age five.

The night is chilly, but Penny's not feeling the cold. Her best and oldest hoodie is snug around her wiry frame, keeping out the wind. The fact that her house is in flames may also have something to do with it.

She watches the Blastoise and shouting men scurry around the huge bonfire as if seeing them through a sheet of water- blurry, dreamlike. Unreal.

A sound at her feet- who's there? Only Cyndaquil. The one who started this mess. The reason why her home is going up in flames.

_Go away. Go. The starter I never wanted. I always knew I couldn't trust a Fire type._

He's leaving. She's not surprised. Any Pokémon would leave if you aimed about half a dozen kicks at their nose. Her glasses slide down her face a little, her plaid scarf blowing in the wind.

She's done. Done with trying to be a Trainer, and done with her sorry life in this town. She spins around, her worn sneakers scuffing the ground, and storms off. One of the workers sees her go, but doesn't say anything. The fire's going down now, and smoke rises into the clear night air. The night is dark again.

If you ignored the smoldering wreck of the Burke household, it would probably seem as if the whole thing had never happened.

**Chapter One**

Morning finds Penny in her cave, or The Cave as she calls it. It's a cozy little place, furnished with moss and her least favorite throw rug. She wishes, idly, from some corner of her mind that isn't numb with horror, that she had thought to use a nicer one. This one is a bright red, and it reminds her of Cyndaquil too much. She flips it over so that the plain rubber side hides the fluffy flames.

Outside, she can hear the plaintive calls of wild Pokémon. She tries to shut out the world, and miserably fails. Something wet is soaking into her hoodie, and Cyndaquil's empty Pokéball is digging into her side. She pulls it out, examining it; it's shiny and quite new, a name sticker plastered at a crooked angle across the smooth, round surface. "Cyndaquil" is written on it with thick black Sharpie, in Prof. Rowan's slightly awkward handwriting. Dreamily, she traces one finger across the quirky tail on his "q" and feels a slight sense of loss, because she knows she can never go back to that town. Not there.

Besides, Cyndaquil might find her. She shudders at the thought, imagining- no-you-don't-want-to-think-about-that-nope.

She pushes the thought out of her mind. Pokémon are dangerous. She should have listened to her sister, who firmly believed in the dangers of Fire Pokémon. She should never have gotten involved with helping Prof. Rowan out in his lab. Maybe if she had stayed well away from Pokémon, she would be safe and happy now, in her home.

She has no idea what her parents were going to say. A cold chill runs through her as she imagines them, dressed in their business clothes and lugging heavy suitcases, returning to the house. Seeing the firemen. The workers. The house-no-more, the burnt wreck of a house.

They would know it was Penny's fault, of course. Such damage could only have been caused by a Fire-type, and there were no Fire-types in the town besides Cyndaquil. Fire plus fire creates destruction. Penny had never thought of herself as a fiery personality until she had gotten Cyndaquil. Her parents had surely heard all of her shouts, scoldings, explosions at the frustration of training this first Pokémon, smelled the smoke drifting from in their yard, and seen the snarl on their daughter's face as she raged through the house, tracking soot everywhere. It couldn't last long. Something like this was bound to happen. It's their fault for not seeing it sooner! Her mind worked feverishly, trying to lay the blame on someone else. All she can come up with is Cyndaquil. She sees his innocent face in her mind and feels an unexpected pang of guilt. She never meant to hurt him. She hopes he finds a better Trainer someday, someone who will appreciate him like she never did. She also hopes she never sees him again.

She gets up, trying to shake the depressed thoughts, and walks out of The Cave, almost tripping over a berry fallen near the entrance. At least she knows now that food is available, although she doesn't plan on staying here- doesn't plan on anything, really, except to get as far away from her house as possible. She knows she should eat something, but she isn't hungry. Her scarf, soggy from a night out of doors, hangs limply down her back. Her glasses are streaked with soot. Her hair is down in lanky locks and probably smells like soot, too, although she doesn't really care at the moment. Her mind far away, she lets her feet lead her down the familiar path.

She knows that she has brought Cyndaquil here, on one of their good days. She hopes he doesn't try to find her here. Not that he would want to, she reassures herself. Hopefully he stays well away from her. She has tried to destroy his Pokéball, but it's made of very hard plastic and she isn't strong enough. That is why she's going to the lake. She pulls the round object out and fingers it, feeling cold water brush her toes and knowing she has reached her destination.

The Pokéball flies in a perfectly straight arc over the azure waters- something she never managed to do in her school Exercises. She wishes her gym teacher could see as it plummets straight into the center of the lake and quickly disappears. A few bubbles rise up, reminding Penny uncomfortably of a drowning animal. Don't be silly, she chatises herself, and sits down on the bank of the lake. The water is cool today, just right for swimming, although Penny doesn't intend to stay that long. She likes water, though. Water is the opposite of fire, cool and soothing and peaceful. She wishes she could have had Totodile as a starter, instead of Cyndaquil.

She wonders, idly, if water will damage the Pokéball. She hopes it's completely disabled now; she doesn't want any connection to Cyndaquil or fire. If she had paid more attention in Pokéball Studies, she might know this. Right now, all she knows is that a Great Ball is better than a Pokéball, and a Master Ball is the best of- why is she thinking about this stuff? She doesn't want to have anything to do with Pokémon, anyways.

As soon as she thinks the thought, she realizes that it's true. She wants nothing to do with Pokémon, ever again. It's a brand-new thought to her; she's always taken Pokémon for granted, seen Penny-the-Pokémon-Trainer as a rock-solid fact. But right now, she'd rather be anywhere than with her Starter, she has no money to buy Potions or Pokéballs, and she's dead meat for the Houndour if she returns to her home town. She's got no choice but to move on, without Cyndaquil. No Pokémon. On her own, doing whatever she wants to, just like she's always wanted to. She's free of Cyndaquil now, and all of her responsibilities as a Trainer-in-training.

Oddly, the thought doesn't please her as much as she thought it would.


	2. Chapter 2 -- Confrontation

**AN: Second chapter :,D I like to think that this one is a bit better. Anyways, thanks so much just for reading this ;u; Hope you enjoy!**

_ Cold, cold, cold, cold, cooold. Sniff, sniff. Can't use fire, no, no, made Penny-girl angry before. Must find Penny-girl again. Cold, cold, cold. Sniff, sniff, sniff._

Penny curses as a branch hits her against the face for the millionth time that day. She swats angrily at mosquitoes, sweaty and uncomfortable. It's high noon on the first day of Being Alone, as she calls it. Her glasses are slipping down her nose like a little kid on a water slide, and she took her scarf and hoodie off a long time ago. Her T-shirt is completely ruined from the many thorns and branches, and she wishes she had thought to bring her knapsack. Oh, who is she kidding? Any knapsacks she might ever have owned are burned-up charcoal in the smoldering wreck of her house.

Her parents will be at the house by now, she's sure of it. The uncomfortable thought curls itself around her brain like a cobra and squeezes, making her mentally squirm with guilt. I'm sorry, Mom, Dad. You shouldn't have trusted me with a Pokémon, huh? She imagines her dad taking off his spectacles, blinking at the scene in bemusement, then looking at her mom, who will most likely have dropped anything she's carrying by then in shock.

She spots an Aipom high in a tree, staring down at her. Slightly unnerved, she tries not to look up as she moves on. Suddenly, she doesn't feel alone anymore. She's starting to get sick of being alone, anyways, she has to admit. Anything is better than being back at home and having to 'fess up to her parents, though. She doesn't want to admit to Prof. Rowan that she lost his Fire type Starter, either.

Her feet feel like they're on fire. As soon as she reaches the next clearing, she sits down on a handy stump and takes off her sweaty sneakers. One of her blisters has popped and is bleeding, making a small red blotch on her white sock. She winces as she touches it. She sets her hoodie and scarf down on the ground and stares into the undergrowth. The soft chirping of Kricketot echoes through the forest, but nothing appears. Not exactly reassured, she looks around restlessly. She feels kind of like something might be watching her, staring through the verdant-AH MY GOSH IT'S A LUXIO!

The Luxio pounces straight at her, teeth bared. Shocked, Penny topples backwards off of the stump and hits her head-hard-against the ground. Scrambling backwards, breathing hard, she stares at it- her- with quick, fearful eyes. Dang it, she had been careless.

The Luxio pads around the clearing watchfully, keeping one golden eye trained steadily on Penny. She gulps, and wishes she had some kind of protection. This is why you take a Pokémon with you when you go out into the forest. But the only Pokémon she'd ever had access to was Cyndaquil, and Cyndaquil-

A small rustling interrupts Penny's thoughts, and she looks around fearfully- but it's only a Shinx puppy, and then another. Chubby and adorable, they scramble towards who Penny now realizes is their mother. Finally dropping her gaze from Penny, the mother Luxio bends her head down to snuffle and examine her babies from head to toe.

Penny exhales, a long, deep breath she hadn't realized she was holding. All three of the heads snap up, staring at her. Broken-down thoughts run through her head of how mother Pokémon use live prey as training for their pups, and she gulps. But her fears are in vain. The mother Luxio and her pups turn, silently, and disappear into the brush as if they had never been there.

Penny stays there, on the ground, frozen in place, for a long time. She doesn't think she's ever felt so insecure before. Wild Pokémon could come at her at any time, and she doesn't know how to defend herself. It's already been proven that she's in Luxio territory, as well.

For a split second, she almost wishes she had Cyndaquil back. The thought is quickly crushed, squished back into the furthest corner of her mind, but it is still there, traitorous, commonsensical. She tries not to pay attention to it.

Finally, she gets up. She gathers her clothing very, very carefully. Shuddering at the deep Luxio pawprints left in the loamy ground, she begins to make her way forwards again.

She has been walking for a while now, when suddenly she bursts out onto a sandy road. She wasn't expecting this. Cautiously, she looks in both directions. A ways away, a large sign proclaims that this is "Route 201". She is a lot closer to Twin Leaf then she expected, she is alarmed to learn. But still, being on the firm, solid, Pokémon-free road feels good. She wonders how she is going to skirt Sandgem Town. With a bittersweet pang, she realizes that if she had stuck with being a Trainer, she would be traversing this road to battle the first Gym Leader. For a second, she feels the same excitement and sense of adventure that she had before, but she tries to squish it quickly.

As she walks quickly down the path, trying not to feel conspicuous, she hears shouts going on. Turning her head quickly, she notices two Trainers. It's too far away to see their individual faces, but there is something familiar about the figure of the girl. Penny stops and watches for a moment. Two bright white flashes- Pokéball flashes- light up the nearby tall grass for a moment. Her eyes widening in shock, Penny recognizes a blue crocodile Pokémon and a green leaf Pokémon- Totodile and Chikorita, the other two Sinnoh starters! Which means... these two are from Penny's town!

She turns, trying to leave quickly, before the girl notices her.

"Hey! Penny!" she yells, the surprised tone of her voice carrying over the shout. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home, helping your paren..." Penny cringes. Drat her red hair, it's much too visible. She shouldn't have lingered. Oh, crap. Now the girl is coming towards her, the boy following while trying not to appear too curious. "Weren't you the one whose Cyndaquil burned down your house? Yeah, Penny, it is you! What are you doing here?" she repeats, getting closer and closer. "Are you... don't tell me you're_ running away_?"

**So... yes... bit of a situation for Penny x,D That is my pathetic attempt at a cliffhanger. -bows, holding microphone as music begins to play- Staaaayyy tuned for the next installment! c,x**


	3. Chapter 3 -- Sustenance

**AN: I was really pushing through this chapter until the very end, where I got all excited ;u; Sorry about the obvious slowness and awkwardness at first! Hope you enjoy, as always. 3**

_Found... found a scent? Penny-girl smells like mint and soot. Need to follow Penny-girl. Sniff, sniff. Hurry! Woods. Must gotowoods because Penny-girl went to woods. Follow Penny-girl._

"Uh..." Penny wills the lies to come to her mouth. "M-me? Yeah, I'm Penny..." She forces a miserable look onto her face, which isn't actually very hard. "I'm not running away." She hopes she hasn't sounded too false, but the girl seems to believe her. She has never known Dawn very well, and she doesn't know the blonde at all. She might have seen him around, though.

"You aren't?" The girl seems slightly disappointed, and Penny finds herself wondering if she had merely been looking for some juicy bit of gossip to spread. She vaguely remembers Dawn as a sweet, kind of excitable girl, not really a gossiper. The information doesn't fit. She almost forgets to respond.

"Oh! Um, I mean, no, I'm not." Penny lowers her head, the very picture of shame and devastation. "I was just... er, visiting my special place in the woods." The fake words spill out of her mouth like boiling water. "It helps me think." She throws in a very false-sounding laugh. "I certainly needed to think... after what happened." Finally, she dares to glance up once at Dawn. She needn't have worried.

"Aww, Penny!" Dawn says pityingly, patting the top of Penny's head. "I'm so sorry." She looks as though she were grasping for something consoling to say, something Penny doesn't really want to hear. "I..."

"Look, I'd really rather be... alone, right now," says Penny, which isn't really a lie either. She is terrified that at any moment her web of lies will be unraveled. Then Dawn will report back to her town, and her parents, and... oh. She tries to mold her face into a mask of sorrowing withdrawal.

"Oh, of course," said Dawn, looking slightly mortified and backing away. The blond boy looks relieved and eager to get back to the battle. Neither of them seems to have noticed Penny's bluff throughout the whole conversation. She begins backing away. "Hey, where's Cyndaquil?" the girl calls, but Penny pretends not to hear as she walks, trying not to sprint, back into the woods. She doesn't even want to think about where Cyndaquil might be by now.

Once she is back in the secure shade of the woods, Penny breathes a huge sigh of relief.

"That was just too close!" she says aloud, wiping her brow. More battle yells come from the road junction, but Penny ignores them. Just last week, she would have been really interested in any Pokémon battles. But now that she's never going to be a Trainer, what's the use?

She had better get going, she thinks. If she meets any more people- people with a better memory than Dawn or that blond boy- she could get ratted out for good. She'd rather be anywhere than back in Twinleaf. She continues hiking. An oddly lonely feeling sweeps over her, and she wishes she could have someone to talk to who wouldn't talk back and wouldn't judge her for anything. Someone like a Pokémon.

She continues along, tracking the road while staying under the cover of the woods. Soon enough, she comes to Sandgem Town. She doesn't realize how hungry she is until she smells the fragrances coming off of the nearby snack vendors. Her mouth waters and her stomach growls so loudly she's afraid the townspeople will find her, hidden behind the Pokémon Center bushes. She had Saltine crackers in The Cave, she thinks wistfully. But in the panic and confusion of the... the Situation, as she'd rather call it, she had left them behind. She rummages in her pockets, but all is as expected- no money. She has no other option but to work.

"Ma'am? Sir? Pokémon sitting, low prices!" Penny cannot believe the humiliation. After disguising herself thoroughly with dirt and lakewater rubbed onto her face and her distinctive bright red hair hidden under a hat she'd fashioned with her scarf, she had begun to offer the only thing she could to get money- caring for Pokémon. She had been trying to avoid Pokémon! Just enough to buy food, she reminds herself. She would rather not think about how she'd get enough money to support herself on a daily basis.

Business is brisk, though. In the sleepy little town of Sandgem, most people are willing to pay about 10 Pokédollars an hour for her to watch their mischievious and low-level Pokémon, while they take a day off. Penny has 100 Pokédollars jingling around in her hoodie pocket by late afternoon. One Bidoof keeps gnawing on her sneakers, and she is having a hard time keeping track of someone's Abra, but so far she thinks it is a success. 100 Pokédollars is enough to buy cheap food for herself for at least a week, right? Penny's confidence begins to come back, slowly.

It's almost 10:04 PM. All the Pokémon have been delivered to their respective owners, and Penny has vowed never to Pokésit again, ever. She is full of bruises, but she really wants something to eat. Most of the vendors have shut down, now, however. As Hoothoot call soothingly from the surrounding trees, she makes her way into the all-hours Pokémart.

"May I get a ham-and-cheese sandwich, please?" She shoves 10 Pokédollars across the counter. What she's really craving is a lettuce wrap, or some of the expensive inside-out sushi in the fancy rice paper, but she knows that ham-and-cheese is the most filling, and the least expensive. The clerk hands her a thick sandwich, wrapped in wax paper. She thanks the clerk and turns to go, but on her way out something catches her eye.

In a shiny plastic bag, there are round, Pokéball-shaped treats. A sticky label near the bottom identifies them as "Small Pokémon treats, great for training and attracting Pokémon!" Penny feels a sudden pang. Cyndaquil would have liked those. Almost without thinking about it, she reaches down and pulls the bag off of the shelf. They're expensive- 15 Pokédollars, five dollars more than her dinner cost.

"Actually, I'll take these, too," she tells the smiling clerk. She isn't sure why, but she feels like she might need them later.


	4. Chapter 4 -- Discovery

**AN: Hello, it's Quill c: Next chapter! I might sorta have a plot now! uwx **

**xxxxxxIMPORTANTxxxxxxIf you are offended by mild death or near-death situations in any way, please do not read this chapter c: There is a nearly-dead Pokémon in this chapter.**

_Footprints through woods. Penny-girl's footprints. Luxio footprints. Follow._

Penny sits down on a rock in the woods and unwraps her sandwich. The rock is cold and slightly damp, but she doesn't really care at this point. The sandwich tastes better than anything she has ever tasted before. Despite the late hour, the uncomfortable seat, and the lingering problem of being a runaway, she immediately feels better.

The songs of Kricketot are more pronounced at this hour. She takes out the bag of Pokémon treats again. She still doesn't regret buying them, although she knows that she should. Why the heck would she want these? She doesn't have any Pokémon and would rather never see a Pokémon again. At least, that's what she tells herself. But will she really be able to befriend a human without lying? She sighs. This is complicated. She has no idea what she's going to do in order to survive tomorrow, let alone the rest of her life.

She wants to eat the rest of her sandwich, very badly. But she knows she'd better save it. She wraps it back into the wax paper and makes to get up, when she hears a faint rustling sound. Almost against her own will, she stands up and leans slightly in that general direction. It sounds like something flopping around in the undergrowth. Penny weighs the odds. This flopping thing, whatever it was...

Don't be an idiot! she tells herself furiously. Whatever it is, it's not Cyndaquil! Suddenly furious with herself, she turns and storms deeper into the forest. She thinks she hears a muffled squeak behind her, but dismisses it as some fluke of her imagination. After searching around for considerably longer than she'd like to, she finally finds a mossy patch that's free of mildew, grubs, and drips. Sighing, she curls up and pulls her damp hoodie around her like a blanket. In seconds, despite her unusual surroundings, she's fast asleep.

-

Morning comes quickly- too quickly. Penny opens her eyes to blinding sunlight and something crawling over her leg. Without fully opening her eyes, she shakes her leg frantically, and something goes flying off and crashing into the underbrush. Penny feels a pang of guilt. She feels less guilty when she realizes that something- some Pokémon, no doubt- has built a half-completed web of Pokémon silk around her. Shaking off the sticky substance and muttering, she ventures over to the lake.

It was a fairly short walk, she knows. Penny has a photographic memory when it came to geography, although it rarely did her any good on Pokémon type tests and simubattles. She sighs and walks on. By the time she realizes that she will be crossing the spot with the flopping Something, she is already in sight of the large rock. For some reason, she is irrationally frightened. Rolling her eyes at herself, she walks on, pushing more recklessly than usual through the thorns, grunting when- OW WHAT?

She's lying on the ground, wet mud smeared onto her face and her leg hurting like anything. Groaning and muttering curses, she pushes herself back onto her feet and looks around for the thing that she's tripped on. The blood drained from her face. A baby Starly is lying in the mud, caught in a cruel-looking steel trap's jaws. Penny feels a sharp pang of regret as she stares at the little -lifeless- body, half-soaked with mud. If only I had gone to investigate. Feeling uncomfortable being so close to the body, she scrapes a few leaves and some dirt over it. Him. Her.

Suddenly, she feels like all the energy has been sucked from her body. She just wants the little bird to be alive again. Somehow, she feels like it's her fault. _I could have saved the poor thing._ Aware, all of a sudden, of her own power, she fingered her scarf absently. _I have the power to save lives... to destroy things... Just one girl._

She should really get up now. She does, half-heartedly. She looks down at the little mound which contains the Starly. It might have been her imagination, but she thinks it has twitched._ Impossible._ But something compels her to bend down again. _I don't want to touch a dead thing._ She brushes away a few leaves. It twitches again. _It was the wind. It has to have been the wind._ Gray feathers come into view again. I_ must be freaking crazy._ But then they flutter.

_I know I was not imagining that._ As if in a dream, she reaches down and touches the feathers. A rapid heartbeat, so faint that Penny could barely feel it._ Ohmygodit'salive._ She doesn't know what to do. Now that she knows that this Starly is alive, does she have responsibility over it? Him... her? It looks more like a she to her. She looks half-dead, anyways. What is she supposed to do? She doesn't want the dumb thing. But she can't leave it. Intense mental conflict raged through her mind. _I'll just nurse it back to health, and then I'll let it... her... go._ It sounded simple, right?

She carries the ragged bundle on. Its fluffy feathers feel cold and damp against her hand. She wraps it in her scarf, not wanting to feel its cold. She can feel its faint heartbeat through the scarf. It makes her happy and unhappy at the same time.

She has been walking all day. The Starly is beginning to feel uncomfortably heavy in her hands. Evening is falling, and the sun is bleeding red into the royal blue night. Penny sighs. She's tired, and stressed, and she wants to sit down. Almost as if by magic, a cave appears out of the dark. She stumbles into it, grateful, and sinks onto the floor. The Starly tumbles out of her scarf and onto the floor as well. She scoops her up after a moment, cuddling the little bird to her.

"It'll be okay," she whispers. She hasn't realized how lonely she is, to be talking to a Starly who might be dead by now. Might be dead by morning, anyways. She crumbles up a Pokémon treat and tries to poke some of the crumbs in the bird's mouth. They leak out of her beak. Too tired to continue, she curls up on the floor, the Starly in the crook of her arm, and falls asleep. The last thought that floats through her head before sleep claims her is, _I'll let the Starly go tomorrow._

**c: Hope you enjoy, as always.**


	5. Chapter 5 -- Caution

**I had a hard time writing this It's kind of slow, and I'm not a very good writer to begin with (to be perfectly honest x,D). And exams are coming up, I'm very busy; forgive my slow updating. Anyways, this chapter mostly sets the scene for the next few c: Hope you enjoy, as always ~Quill**

_Penny-girl's very close! Smell Penny! Smell Starly! Sniff, sniff, hurry up. This way, that way. This way for sure._

Penny wakes up with a jolt. Something's different. It feels like Christmas morning, inverted; that sense of something to look forward to flipped around. She's panicking for a second, until she remembers where she is. And then she leaps about a foot in the air, and remembers the Starly. Its jet-black eyes are open, and it's staring at her. Dear Arceus, that was scary. Penny approaches it quietly, half-afraid that it'll jump up and start pecking her to death.

"Do you want something to eat?" she whispers, digging around in her bag for the treats. She unzips the bag and offers the little Bird Pokémon a bit of the treat. This time, the Starly takes it delicately, crunching on it with its long beak. Penny exhales, a breath that she didn't know she had been holding. _Good, it's alive. I can let it go soon_. Being around the Starly kind of scares her.

She leaves it in the cave, tucked into a nest of hoodie, so she can find something to eat. The sandwich from last night might as well have never existed. She finds an Oran Berry tree and gratefully plucks the two plump, blue berries from the tree. She bites into one right away, but saves one for Starly.

After the discovery of the berries, Penny decides to explore the forest a little more. She hopes that she won't find any other people. The Starly won't be going anywhere anytime soon, she hopes, as she begins walking again. Today it's quite cloudy and looks like rain. The Kricketot are singing the rain song, and the air is moist and humid. A Budew toddles around near the bushes, seemingly unafraid of Penny's presence. Humans must come here fairly often, she thinks, although she hasn't seen very much litter so far.

She's lost in thought, kind of, thinking about Cyndaquil again, even though she shouldn't. A raindrop hits the rim of her glasses and streams down the lense, a river of blur slicing her vision. Two more hit her neck and her forehead. It's one of those rainstorms that start with almost no warning, she realizes, as the next dozen pelt her shoulders, hands and face. She hasn't got an umbrella. Remembering, painfully, how Cyndaquil used to be afraid of rain, she puts her hands ineffectually over her head and sprints back the way she came as the precipitation comes down in earnest.

By the time she reaches the little cave again, the rain is sheeting down and lightning is flickering in the sky. To her surprise, the Starly is awake and lucid as she pants into the dank space, shivering and dripping. She assumes that Pokémon heal much more quickly than humans. The Starly stares at her as Penny tries to wring her hair out, and chirps in protest when she uses the hoodie-nest to dry herself down. Penny ignores the little bird and hunches in the far corner, watching the storm. She jumps every time the thunder crashes.

The Starly isn't afraid of the rain at all. She's watching each drop that pelts into the cave with an innocent, mind-numbing curiosity. Penny tries not to watch, and ignores the tiny chirps and squeaks that the fluffy Pokémon makes. Idly, she wonders what kind of family the Starly will be going back to. She thinks she's read something about wild Pokémon with a human scent not being accepted back into groups. _Well, that's not my problem,_ she thinks fiercely. _That little thing would be dead without me, right?_

Oh, Arceus. Now the tiny thing is hopping over to her. She's dragging one leg on the ground, but still manages to propel herself. Spunky little thing. Penny gets out the bag of treats again and throws one to the other end of the cave, hoping this will lure the tiny Pokémon away. It works. With a high-pitched cheeping sound, the Starly begins to pathetically drag herself towards the nugget. Penny wonders if the Pokémon's leg is broken. She doesn't know- or want to know- how to mend a broken leg.

The Starly begins to peck determinedly at the treat. Penny admires her will to live. She notes, amusedly, how easy it was to draw the bird away with a food object. It should be easy as well, she ponders, to release her into the wild. She hopes she doesn't run out of treats before the fluffy chick has healed.

Penny remembers, only now, the other Oran Berry she picked in the forest. She doesn't really want to give it to the Starly any more, but she takes out her Swiss Army knife and slices a chunk out. At the scent of the fragrant Berry, the Starly whips her head around. Before she can hurt its leg even more by trying to bounce back to Penny, she stands up and walks over to it. The Starly snatches the food greedily out of Penny's hand and gulps it down.

Penny picks the Starly up and sets her back into the hoodie nest. The baby bird chirrups in protest as Penny starts to walk away. She wishes she had a Pokéball to hold the Starly, but she doesn't. She doesn't have much, and she doesn't doubt that the little Pokémon will find some way to get into her food stores before long. Maybe when the rain lets up a bit she can find a way to move on and find a home for the Starly, she thinks. Penny has no idea where the Starly used to live before she was caught in the trap. She doesn't know very much about Bird Pokémon in general. She hopes that they don't require much care. It would be hard for this Starly to survive in the wild without a guardian, she thinks, but this particular Pokémon seems very hardy, determined- and clingy. She hopes that the little brown bird won't be too hard to get rid of. She wouldn't want to get attached.


	6. Chapter 6 -- Onwards

**Next chapter up x_x I think I finally have a plot, thanks to my awesome friend Misty 8"D Anyways, uh, yeah. Starly does come back later, so don't worry about that |"D Hope you enjoy, as always!**

* * *

_Penny-girl was here... was here... track Penny-girl! Very, very close! Footprints here... Starly here... treats here..._

Penny didn't realize she had fallen asleep until the absence of sound wakes her. Her eyes open to the raucous sounds of the forest after rain. She gets up, a soggy bundle of feathers falling off of her. That was the Starly, she realizes. Brushing a few damp spots off of her hoodie, she peeks outside the cave opening. The sun wriggles its tendrils of light through the mesh of leaves above, making them look like vibrant, verdant stained-glass. It splatters on the ground like a child's first painting, streaks and daubs of glowing gold dappling the forest floor. Penny's never realized how beautiful the forest looks after a storm- until now.

The Starly seems equally entranced. For once, she isn't endlessly repeating her loud, high-pitched chirping sound. Penny breaks her gaze away from the solar portrait before her and picks the little Bird Pokémon up. She stands up and walks out of the cave, her knapsack slung around her shoulder.

The sun is less enchanting outside of the shelter. It flashes into her eyes at intervals like strobe lights, causing her to shade her face with her hand. If she listens carefully, she feels like she can sense the whole forest dripping with fresh dew. Her glasses slip down her face a little, but she pushes them up resolutely. Now the two have arrived at a clearing she used to like going to, back before Cyndaquil.

She can think of his name now without cringing, but he reminds her of what she left behind at her not-anymore-home. So she pushes him out of her mind as she sits down on an old log. She'd better get rid of the Starly now, she thinks, before the little Pokémon grows to think of her as a food source. She takes out the bag of Pokémon treats, the rustle of the plastic familiar now. The small gray Pokémon perks its head up, staring intently first at Penny, then at the treat bag, and then Penny again. Penny pulls a kibble out of the bag and holds it up.

"You want it?" she asks in a falsely perky manner, her voice slightly rusty from disuse. The Starly lets out a single cheep. Penny takes the bit of food and hurls it as hard as she can into the undergrowth. It strikes a tree trunk and bounces back into her face. Spluttering, she scrabbles around for the morsel, only to find that the Starly has already eaten it. Gritting her teeth, the girl reaches into her bag for another tidbit.

The second treat is snatched by a Rattata, and the third disappears deep into an old and very nasty Noctowl hole that neither the Starly nor Penny wants to delve into. Penny is running out of treats. She doesn't know any other way to get rid of the little Flying-type- if anything, the small bird seems even more attached to her now than she was before. Penny sighs and lobs another treat into the bushes. As the Starly hurtles after it, she hastily gets up. After watching the bush for a long moment, she begins, very slowly, to back away.

When she is sure that the Starly is occupied safely, Penny begins to walk through the forest again. Not back to the cave, because she's pretty sure that the Starly will be able to find her there. She hopes that the little Pokémon has a good life in the wild. As she's thinking about this, her thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a little brown Pokémon running into her path. _Eevee!_

His long, floppy ears trailing behind him, the Eevee dashes by Penny, who takes a couple of steps backwards in shock. Yikes. Just as the furry Evolution Pokémon was leaping past her, he begins to glow. Penny could have sworn that she has never seen an expression on a Pokémon's face that is even remotely like the one on this Eevee's.

Penny simply stands there in shock as little beams of pure white light began to shine from beneath the Eevee's fluffy coat. A boy, maybe one or two years younger than her, dashes into the clearing, stopping when he saw the little Pokémon.

"V-v-vee?" he stammers, catching sight of what appears to be his Pokémon. A red-and-white Poké Ball, half-open, is clutched tightly in his hand. As he turned to Penny in astonishment, the Eevee's light blinds her, reaching a maximum. It was the purest light she had ever seen. _Evolution,_ she thinks, confusedly, because she knows that Eevee can only evolve with Stones or Friendship. _Espeon?_ But as the light fades, she sees a fluffy Pokémon with bushy red-and-cream fur where the Eevee had been, looking around in befuddlement.

_That's a Flareon,_ she thinks. One look at the boy's face told her that he, too, has had nothing to do with this.

"Vee!" he yells again, dashing towards his Pokémon. With both arms around the fluffy creature, he examines the Flareon closely. "What happened?!" The Flareon churrs softly, looking bemused but happy to still be with his owner. The boy looks up and sees Penny.

"What did you do to Vee?!" he shouts protectively, glaring at her. "Why'd you give him a Fire Stone?" Penny blinks, stung.

"I didn't do anything," she snaps. "I just happened to be here, when your Eevee leapt into my path and just started...", she makes frantic motions with her hands, "evolving!" Hurt and irritated that the boy had blamed her, she turns on her heel. "I'm leaving now, unless there's anything else you want to accuse me of!" As the boy stares after her, gaping, Penny storms from the clearing. She wonders why she had gotten so mad all of a sudden. _That was stupid of me. I just got so mad..._ Unhappily, she stamps away.

Although she keeps a close watch for the rest of the trip out of the forest, she sees no more Trainers and very few Pokémon. Although this part of the forest is usually swarming with Grass-types, she sees next to none today. This doesn't bother her much, as she's trying to focus on escaping from the forest. She does see a Chimchar, which snapps her out of her reverie for a moment. _The only Chimchar around should be with the Professor,_ she thinks confusedly, but puts the matter out of her mind for a moment.

She hungrily snatches a few bites to eat from a market stall at Sandgem Town, and then quickly sets off along the path to Jubilife City. Having no interest in meeting any fellow human beings, she skirts the routes dotted with eager Trainers, and ducks off of the beaten path into the scrub. From Penny's perspective, Jubilife City is simply bustling with people. It was nothing like tiny Twinleaf Town, which has about four houses in total. Penny suddenly has a strange and painful longing to go back home and bury herself under the covers of her cozy bed and snuggle with Cyndaquil for at least an hour. This was impossible in every way, of course. But that doesn't stop Penny from wishing for it.


	7. Chapter 7 -- Unexpected

**Uhh... back from Europe c: So, mysterious things keep happening and stuff like that. c"x Yep! Hope you enjoy, as always! You know, I get the feeling that about 5 years from now, I'll look back on this story and, like, die from embarrassment. But anyways!  
**

* * *

_Too close. Metal-smell too close... too many people. Lost Penny-girl's scent._

Penny's sick of camping, but she has to. The forest near Jubilife City is a little more littered than the one behind Sandgem, and it's not as beautiful, but it's a place to hide. She still hasn't seen many Grass-types, but she did see a few Starly that made her think of her Starly. She wonders how her Starly is. She's begun to think of the little Flying-type as "her" Starly, anyways.

She bought a sub sandwich in the city, so at least she isn't hungry. She's begun to worry less about being recognized, although she does wonder if her parents have made any effort to find her. She's getting used to living on the run, having long ago put any consideration of going back home out of her head. She might have had a chance of forgiveness, she thinks, if she had come back in the first few days. But more than that, she feels a strange pull to push on, like flocks of Flying-type Pokémon migrate for the winter.

Right now she's sitting on a park bench in Jubilife, throwing bread crumbs to assorted Starly and Staravia. She's found the weather to be much warmer lately, so warm that the heat feels like it's coming from inside her. She's not wearing her hoodie, but she does have a hat on- a cheap one that conceals her distinctive red hair. She also isn't wearing her glasses, because she read once in a magazine article that facial accessories change your appearance more than anything else.

A boy, about her age, suddenly drops down onto the seat next to her. Penny's surprised to see that he's wearing a jacket and a scarf.

"Brr! It's kind of cold out here today!" he remarks, shivering slightly. "And it's supposed to be summer!" He stares at her wonderingly. "Hey, aren't you cold? You're not even wearing a coat!" Penny tilts her head, confused.

"I didn't think it was that cold out today," she admits. "It's actually kind of warm." The boy stares at her incredulously, his freckles standing out on his face. His brown hair flops into his eyes.

"Are you kidding me?" he demands. "Here, let me feel your hand." Before she can stop him, he grabs her hand, limp on the park bench- and drops it just as quickly.

"Yeowch!" he yelps, fanning his own hand in the air. "What did you do, stick your fingers in a furnace? You're burning up!" Penny stares at him in bewilderment. Her hands feel pretty normal to her. "W-what?" she asks, tilting her head.

"You're really warm!" says the boy, stretching his hands out towards her like he was toasting marshmallows on a fire. "It's like you're radiating heat!" They both look up as a raindrop plonks onto the boy's head.

"I'd better go," he says, pulling a blue umbrella out of his backpack. "Mum'll be worried if it storms and I'm not back at home." He waves at her as he hurries away. "Bye, Firegirl!" Penny stares at him as he leaves, and then down at her own hands. Another raindrop splashes onto one of them, and she gets to her feet as well. She doesn't have an umbrella like the boy does, and the thought of getting drenched isn't appealing to her. But by the time she reaches the makeshift camp back in the forest, she's pretty well-soaked already. Suddenly drained of energy, she sinks down onto the carpet of leaves and falls fast asleep.

She wakes as a crash of thunder rattles every leaf above her head. The rain is coming down in great silver sheets, the sound of the battalions of drops hitting the ground filling every little nook and cranny in Penny's sleep-drenched head. A few seconds later, she's almost simultaneously blinded and deafened by a mighty lightning flash and a roll of thunder striking at the same time. That means the storm is almost directly overhead, right? She's still soaked, but there's no chance of starting a fire unless she has dry wood. The feeling of wetness against her skin is suddenly unbearable. She glares at the little pile of kindling in the corner of the cave so hard that her eyes begin to hurt- and the pile bursts into flames.

Shocked, Penny blinks a few times, wondering if she's beginning to have hallucinations. As soon as the tension in her eyes lessens, the fire dies down. Penny feels tears of pain well up at the corners of her eyes as she blinks again. It feels like she's had coarse sand rubbed into them. She places a shaky hand on the smoldering wood. _Maybe I'm warm because I have a fever. Maybe that was the first sign of some kind of mental sickness_. She takes a few deep breaths. _Don't be stupid._ She turns slowly away from the pile of kindling and tries to go back to sleep.

_She's wandering through a golden woods, somewhere she's never been before. Right ahead of her, Cyndaquil bobs and weaves through the foliage with apparent ease. She fights to keep up with him. "Wait!" she yelps, running even faster, but she trips on a huge tree root and falls to the ground. When she looks up, the whole forest is burning down, the goldenness shattered, although she feels no heat. And out of the flames, there is a great and powerful voice, and the voice says..._

_"Star! Star-leee!"_

"Starly! Leee!"

Penny blinks, confused. The hard, damp forest floor gradually replaces the dreamlike golden wood. She's disoriented for a moment. I had a dream... She raises her head a few inches and screams. A gigantic beak is all that can be seen in her field of vision. Gradually, she begins to breathe again.

"Uh... Starly, is that you?" she asks tentatively. The beak hesitates, then draws away to reveal the rest of the small Flying-type. She has no idea if this is the same Starly that she kept company with for a while, but she has a weird feeling that she is. Something about the little gray bird seems familiar. The Starly- her Starly- chirrups and pecks lightly at her hand. Penny has a Lassie-come-home moment.

"Did you really come all this way to find me?" she asks the bird suspiciously. "And why am I talking to you, anyways?" The Starly chirps again and hops over to Penny's hoodie, which is piled in the corner. The little Flying-type nestles down and closes her eyes. Penny suppresses a sigh.

"I guess I'm stuck with you, huh?" she asks, but the Starly doesn't respond. Penny sits there, staring at the sleeping Pokémon, until the heat in the cave becomes unbearable. Then she goes outside.


	8. Chapter 8 -- Disaster

**I get the feeling that this story is going to become truly outlandish |D Believe me, I did not expect it to turn out this way. Oh well! Hope you enjoy... as always...**

* * *

_Can't find Penny-girl. Pull to Penny-girl. Follow pull. Fire-pull. Penny-girl-fire-pull-followpennyfire. Fire._

The next day, Penny decides to experiment. She wants to know if she was hallucinating or not. Part of her is telling her that she's insane, absolutely insane, and that she was probably either dreaming or imagining it. But how can she live with knowing that she might have some kind of... mystical powers?

_It's like something I would read in a fairytale_, she thinks, as she stares resolutely at the pile of wood. She's not really convinced. Her eyes feel hot and prickly from staring at the same thing for so long- at least fifteen minutes.

_Ow!_ Suddenly, she feels something pecking at her hand, which is planted firmly on the ground. Before she can realize it, she's jerked her hand away, yelping, and then she hears a squeal. She looks slowly down and sees the Starly hopping around, screeching. The tip of one of the little bird's feathers is singed.

Penny just stares at the bird for a second. What? Is she imagining this? But no, the strong odor of burned feathers is very real. Luckily, the Starly isn't badly burned- only the very tip of her wing is scorched somehow. Did I do that? She digs around in her knapsack and finds a Rawst Berry, which she splits in half and lays over the Starly's wing. The tiny Flying-type coos and immediately eats the other half of the berry from Penny's hand. Penny sighs, suddenly feeling drained.

_So I can set things on fire,_ she thinks. _Let's just say that's true. So... what could I use this for?_ She places one hand on the woodpile as she thinks. _I mean, I wouldn't ever have to rely on matches again... and I could scare other people... I could learn Pokémon moves and have battles!_ She laughs out loud at the ridiculous ideas. Then she looks down and notices that the woodpile is on fire, and her hand is still in it.

"Yeowch!" Penny draws her hand out of the fire like it was, well, on fire, and fans it desperately in the air. After the fourth flap, she notices that it is completely undamaged.

_This is getting creepier and creepier,_ she thinks, examining the hand closely. It isn't burned, or even warm to the touch. She looks around warily, as though expecting to see some kind of ghost or specter that was casting illusions. Then she stares at the fire again. It doesn't go out.

_Rats,_ she thinks. She doesn't particularly need a fire in the middle of the summer, never mind how it got there. However, she notices that despite the roaring, toasty blaze and the mild weather, she isn't uncomfortably hot. She simply stares at the fire for a few minutes, willing something-anything- to explain itself to her. Nothing does. She dips a finger into the fire and holds up a little torch- like a candle, but with her finger. Fascinated, she blows it out. Then, she tries to smother the fire with her hands, which doesn't work because her hands seem to become part of the fire.

Penny takes the Starly and goes to find a water source. Even if she's moving on from here, she shouldn't leave a fire burning. There's always the chance that a wind will blow a spark into the woods and start a forest fire, although there's no sign of even a breeze right now. As she walks through the forest, she can hear the distant bustling and beeping noises of Jubilife City close by. All that seems distant, unimportant, and instead she focuses on the way the sunlight filters through the leaves, like they're made of transparent glass, the same thing she noticed earlier. The forest drips with dew from the rain, and Penny finds herself wishing that the sun would be a little quicker in drying the damp forest.

The little Bird Pokémon chirps contentedly as she kneels by a little pool and first takes a sip, then washes her face. The water feels strange against her skin. Then it hits her that she doesn't have anything to carry the liquid in.

Cursing, Penny walks all the way back to the cave to fetch her water bottle. When she gets there, however, the fire has already been put out for her. Curious, Penny looks around- and then she notices that her knapsack is gone.

"No," she says aloud, running over to the spot where the olive-green bag had lain. "N-no way." Frantically, she scoured every corner of the little cave, even upturning the smoldering woodpile. "This... cannot... be... happening. That bag had my school ID in it!" she wails to a politely puzzled Starly, who is perched atop a stray log. "And my food! And my hoodie!" At the word 'hoodie', she cocks her head and chirps. Penny sinks down onto another log, holding her head. "How could this happen?!" she groans furiously, and shoots a small fireball from her hand into the wall. It leaves a round, black scorch mark. "I'm not even surprised at that anymore," the girl says wearily.

She sits like that for some time before realizing that anyone could have her ID card. Luckily, she had kept her money in her pocket, so she still had that, at least. If the person who had her ID card was an adult, they would probably be reporting her right now. She should get on the move. Reluctantly, she gets up and pulls her hat on, once again obscuring her flaming hair. Although she has no bag to put her glasses in anymore, she hangs them on the collar of her T-shirt. She looks around for a second before realizing that she no longer has a bag to pack. She can just get going. She kicks the logs out of the cave- no sense in leaving such obvious evidence, after all- and picks the Starly up.

Penny takes the little Starly cautiously and brings her outside. The summer sun feels nice on her skin, like a symphony of golden warmth, and she finds it hard to believe that just the other day, it was raining, dark, and cloudy.

"Should we move on?" she asks the Starly.

"Lee! Starrrly!"

"I'm gonna take that as a 'yes'."

"Star-leeeee!"


	9. Chapter 9 -- Override

**Haha, this chapter is super weird and short and late. I'm so sorry! ;a; But I hope you like it anyways. TuT**

**Hehe just realized that I posted a chapter from the wrong story. It's fixed now! /brick'd**

* * *

_Penny-girl left metal-city. Good... now keep following. Penny-girl's firescent here..._

Penny trudges through the woods, the Starly perched happily on her shoulder.

"Hey," she says, half-joking. "Can't you walk by yourself?" The Starly tilts her head, confused. "Or, you know... fly?" Penny makes flapping motions with her arms, then bursts out giggling. "Hahaha. I'm tired." She flops down on a handy rock, causing the Starly to topple into the grass and chirp indignantly.

"Deal with it," advises Penny, lying flat on the stone. She stares straight into the sun, at least until her eyes begin to hurt from so much brightness. Then she looks away, into the trees, colorful afterimages bobbing and burning under her eyelids. _Ugh. I guess I had better get going._ She heaves herself back up onto her feet and keeps walking.

* * *

_Some time later..._

"Wow," Penny says in admiration, staring up at the huge white disk of the moon in the sky. "The moon's gorgeous tonight!" She's gotten into the habit of talking to Starly, perhaps out of sheer loneliness. The little Bird Pokémon shows no sign of being impressed at the moon, although she does show some signs of interest when Penny digs out some treats for her.

"Treats for you, Berries for me," Penny says, sitting down on a tree stump. She takes a bite out of a ripe Oran Berry. Starly pecks at a treat determinedly. The night is peaceful.

Until a Growlithe bursts into the clearing, barking. Penny is on her feet in a matter of split-seconds, looking around frantically. _"Growlithe," she can hear her old second-grade teacher saying, "are the Pokémon of the Police Department. Boys and girls, I hope you will never be hunted down by a Growlithe, because they are ruthless when it comes to performing their duty and admirably loyal."_ Penny gulps as she sees a far-off flashlight beam- undoubtedly a police officer, an Officer Jenny. She musn't get caught! Looking around frantically, she extends a shaking palm towards the Growlithe.

"Good Pokémon... Goooood Pokémon..." she coos, moving her palm steadily towards the Growlithe. Oddly enough, it seems to be working. The doglike Fire-type isn't making any move to maul her hand, anyways. In fact, he's tilting its head and watching her with a very intelligent look in his eye.

_This is a Fire-type Pokémon,_ thinks Penny nervously. _Could I counter him with fire?_ She summons a tiny ball of fire in the palm of her hand and holds it there a second. The Growlithe sniffs it warily, opens his mouth slightly... and swallows it.

"Waah!" Penny yelps involuntarily, before clapping a hand over her mouth. The Growlithe is shaking his head like he's swallowed a bee. Suddenly, Penny hears something.

_yip_

She looks around, but all she sees is the Growlithe. It seems that the searchlight has disappeared, for now, at least.

_fire_

She stares at the Growlithe very hard. The Growlithe stares back. A feeling of intense puzzlement overcomes Penny, before she realizes that the feeling is the Growlithe's.

_Pen...ny._

"Uh huh, that's me," says Penny quietly to the Growlithe.

_Pen...ny!_

"Mhm. Okay... uh, this is weird. Gosh." The Growlithe watches her expectantly.

"Uh... Growlithe?"

_Pennnny?_

"Could you, uh, uh..." Penny feels supremely uncomfortable talking to this Pokémon._ Could it be that I'm just imagining these responses?_ "Could you go distract Officer Jenny from... this place?"

Place...

"Yeah," said Penny awkwardly, gesturing around the little clearing. "Could you... kind of, like, lead her in the opposite direction from us?"

_Lead... alpha-Jenny? Away?_

"Uh huh," says Penny enthusiastically. "Er... Could you, please?"

_Affirmative... alpha-Pennnnny!_

_Am I an alpha?_ thinks Penny puzzledly. "Thank you, Growlithe. This means a lot," she says out loud.

_Pennny command override alpha command. No problems!_

Now Penny's confused again._ I override... Officer Jenny's command?_ She watched the Growlithe bound enthusiastically away and start barking somewhere to Penny's left. _Whatever. So long as he does what I asked him to, I'm grateful._ She scoops up the puzzled Starly mid-meal and dashes away.

* * *

Penny's run pretty far now, so far that she can't hear the bustle of Jubilife City anymore. Now, she's pretty sure she's headed towards Oreburgh City, although she isn't sure. For once, she isn't caught smack in the middle of a storm, and the skies above her are clear as she runs. She tries to keep away from any lights, but this results in a pitch-black night. She's afraid to light a fire as a lamp, because a forest fire near a major technological city would do nothing for her anonymity. So she jogs on into the darkness.

Somewhere near midnight, Penny stops for a breather and notices a large pair of eyes staring at her- a Hoothoot. She slips and ducks underneath him, but he flies fiercely off his branch and attacks her. The Pokémon has much better night vision than she does, and she suffers several pecks to her neck and arms. As she runs away from the fierce Owl Pokémon, she trips and loses one of her shoes.

Dawn finds Penny panting and exhausted, but far away from where the police were searching for her. She's not near any cities, so she figures that she should be safe for at least a few days. Ruefully, she thinks of the food in her lost knapsack, now helping her enemies instead of her. She's come to think of anyone who tries to find her as her enemy.

Starly fell asleep a while ago, tucked into the corner of Penny's arm. Penny sets her down now, gently, and wrings her arm out a bit. She sits down herself and takes off her remainign sneaker, shaking out various assorted pebbles and sand, and then begins to massage her aching feet. She wishes that there was a large lake, or at least a pond, nearby. She feels dirty and her throat is dry. Her arms bear several minor scratches from thorns, Hoothoot, and stray twigs as she made her way through the woods, but she barely notices them.

Through the sparse trees, Penny can see a huge mountain. Oreburgh City's there. She knows that she needs to find some form of civilizaton, if only for food and possibly water. She can't go back to Jubilife, where the police have her ID card. The only way is, Penny thinks grimly, up. Up the mountain.


	10. Chapter 10 -- Alike

_Follow Penny, up the mountain. Follow._

_follow_

_f oll ow_

_ff-f-ff f _  
_i_  
_r_  
_e_

Penny slogs up the exhaustingly uphill road, sharp rocks prodding the sole of her bare foot. She doesn't even want to look under the sock for fear of what she'll see. If it's anything like the pain she's feeling, it'll be horrible. Starly hopped alongside her for a while, but quickly got tired and now sits on Penny's shoulder, peeping every time Penny stumbles over a rut in the road or a rock.

It's tiring, but a little bit satisfying to look back and see where she's gotten. From up here, she can see all the trees in the nearby forests. The tiny trees remind her of the shaggy green moss that grew near the lake she used to swim in. The houses are like incredibly detailed Monopoly pieces, she thinks. She's tired, hot, and sweaty, so she plops down onto a handy nearby bench and sets Starly onto it beside her.

"I would kill for a glass of cold water," she moans to the tiny Flying-type Pokémon. "And some clean clothes, if I'm going to wish for everything now." She rolls her eyes and leans back on the bench, stretching her arms out into the air. "And another pair of sneakers!" The Starly chirps, and Penny rolls her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You're just dying for some food. I'm starving too!" She slumps over suddenly. "I guess we should... keep going." She sighs in a resigned manner and gets up, picking Starly up again, and continues up the hill.

* * *

Penny stops suddenly._ I heard something._ She looks around cautiously, scanning the undergrowth for any signs of life. She sees something reddish-brown and freezes. Slowly, a small Vulpix crawls out of the bush and stares up at her with pale, clear eyes. Penny thinks about it. She knows that Vulpix is a Fire-type Pokémon, and she has quickly gotten used to the face that she has, as her mind puts it, "super creepy fireish powers!". She decides to try the same thing with Vulpix as she did with Growlithe, forming a small flame in her palm- that had become basic quite quickly, to her surprise- and offering it to the Pokémon. The Vulpix sniff it and then swallows it the same way that the Growlithe did.

_Hello, fire-human._

Penny blinks, still not accustomed to being able to speak with Pokémon. She still harbors lingering feelings that she's slowly going crazy and having hallucinations, but she figures- if the hallucinations are gonna happen, she might as well play along, right?

"Hello, Vulpix," she says. The Vulpix seems to be more literate than the Growlithe, since Penny is able to sense a definite period at the end of her "sentence".

_What would you ask of me?_ Penny is surprised to hear the thought. The Vulpix blinks her pale eyes and stares up at Penny, her head tilted slightly to one side.

"Do you know if Oreburgh City is nearby?" This time, she could swear that the Vulpix had snorted.

_I do not typically concern myself with the sordid affairs of humans,_ the small Fire-type communicates. _But in this case, it is hard to miss them, with their distinctive scent of burning plastic and intrusive mines_. Penny blinks, surprised by the fierceness of the Vulpix's thoughts.

"Sorry," she says, painfully aware that she is trying to apologize for the whole human race. The Vulpix gives a small barking sound, which Penny realizes is a laugh.

_There is no need for you to apologize,_ she conveys. _You are not like them, although... once you were. But now you are not like them._ Penny stares, confused.

"I'm not a human anymore?" she clarifies, oddly detached from the fear her mind half-expected her to feel at the ludicrous thought.

_You are still... human, in a sense,_ corrects the Fox Pokémon, sitting down and curling all six tails around her in a dignified, neat manner. _But you are not like them._ This point seems to be especially important to the Pokémon, thinks Penny, as the smaller creature keeps repeating it.

"How am I not like them?" she asks anxiously, forgetting about her initial goal of wanting to get to Oreburgh City.

_Is it not obvious?_ The Vulpix opens her mouth, exposing small, sharp white teeth and a pink tongue. _You are no longer Typeless. You have Fire._ A small flame blossoms in the middle of the foxlike creature's tongue, then dissipates. The Vulpix eyes Penny calmly, as if expecting the cryptic words to explain everything.

"Whaaaat?" asks Penny, confused. "I mean... yeah, I kinda developed these wonky fire abilities all of a sudden, but..."

_You are not like them, and that is all that is important,_ the Vulpix cuts in smoothly, interrupting Penny's puzzled sentence. _As for the answer to your question... Oreburgh City should be about fifteen minutes' walk from here._ Before Penny can do anything else, the Fox Pokémon lowers her head and somehow snaps the connection. Penny feels the warm presence of Vulpix slip from her mind.

"Well... thank you," she says unsurely. The Vulpix bows her head, nodding in a neat way, as if to say, 'It was nothing.' Then, she turns and seemed to disappear back into the undergrowth, her russet fur blending seamlessly with the dusty road and leaves. Penny stares after her a second, and then turned to Starly.

"I'll think about all that later," she decides. "Right now... Food is fifteen minutes away!" She scoops up Starly and makes a mad dash up the road.

The distant shape of Oreburgh City comes into view in about fifteen minutes, just like Vulpix had told Penny. She skirts a few small mines that had ventured further down the mountain and begins making her way towards it. With the dust covering up her distinctly bright red hair, which she swears is getting redder and shinier by the day despite not having washed it since quite a few days ago, she only has to tie a bandanna around her forehead and smear a little extra dirt onto her already-muddy clothes to look like an average street scoundrel just passing through. Armed with a story of visiting "her poor ma 'n pa on t' other side of t' mountain", she prepares to enter the city.


	11. Chapter 11 -- Growing

**I'm tired of making a filler for Cyndaquil (yeah, if you haven't guessed yet, that weird cryptic thing at the beginning of every chapter is Cyndaquil) so... you'll just have to wait until you see him in person! Or Pokémon. Hehehe. /badjokes**

**Anyways, hope you enjoy, as always c:**

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Penny pauses to read the sign at the entrance- _Oreburgh- the City of Energy- _before entering. The first thing she does is pop into a food-to-go place and buy a sandwich and some Pokémon food with the money she has left. She knows that she might need that money for something else, but, as she reasons with herself, it would be no use to save money if she starves to death!

After finding a safe place to eat, behind a building and away from the hustle and bustle of the busy mining city, Penny opens up the bag of Flying-type Pokémon food and shakes out a handful for Starly. While the little Bird Pokémon is busy pecking up the kibbles- dry and hard, not exactly top quality, thinks Penny regretfully- the girl takes a hungry bite out of her own sub sandwich and took the time to gather her wits about her. She has made it to the city, so for now, she would stay alive and ahead of her chasers. She doesn't know what she will do now, though. The Vulpix's words echo in her brain. 'You have Fire.' "What's that supposed to mean?" she says out loud, and then blushes as a few passers-by stared at her strangely before hurrying on. She scooches a little more into the shadows and turns to Starly, who has finished the pile of kibble and is now eyeing the bag of food hungrily.

"No more," she says, moving the bag away from the hungry Pokémon. "We have to save it for when we're on the move again." The Starly tilts her head, and Penny searches her beady black eyes for the same kind of intelligence that sparkled in Vulpix's. She comes up empty, though. Turning away, she closes her eyes and tries to think of what to do next. Something- the same thing that pulled her to Oreburgh City, she thinks- is already pulling her away and forward. The feeling is ragged, primal, giving her the urge to sprint away, to ignore roads and travel cross-country, to get to her destination. It kind of scares her, but she gets up anyways, reluctantly wrapping up the other half of her sandwich to eat later and picking up Starly. _We're leaving before we've even been here one whole day... _Distracted, she doesn't see that she's left behind a tiny scrap of paper that had torn off from her sandwich wrapper. It blows aways in the light breeze as she makes her way back into the busy streets.

A flash of blue- glinting eyes- shadows. Light paws against the ground, soot and dust seeming to slide off of the pristine fur like water off of glass. A nose, bending down to sniff a bit of paper- picking up a scent- eyes widen and then eyes narrow. The scent of blisters and fire. Sniffing for the trail of fire- blue- slipping out of the nook as quickly- as it had come. Tracking. Hunting.

Penny traverses the streets, the soot and ash drifting up from the clomping of many feet against dirty roads only bettering her disguise. She reaches the end of the city before long and pauses, then continues on her way.

Once she's safely out of the city, she allows herself to dust off, rubbing dirt out of her eyes and revealing her penny-red hair again from the coat of soot that had blanketed it. The air is fresher here, and she takes a few deep breaths before continuing down the road with Starly. They don't pass many travelers, since most people choose to come from the opposite side of the mountain to visit Oreburgh, but after a narrow encounter with a Hiker who wanted to battle Penny decides to stick to the side of the road. She sees no other Pokémon apart from Starly, who has finally decided to stop riding on Penny's shoulder and is now hopping ahead of her, inspecting the undergrowth for edible berries or plants. It's a nice day, but Penny can't help but worry. She's in over her head, she realizes, she wasn't thinking clearly the night she ran away. And now, if she goes back... the very idea seems alien to her. Although she's only been traveling for a few days, she's already covered more ground than she possibly thinks she could, and made a new friend who would never consent to be in a Poké Ball like she would have to if Penny went back. And the tug to keep going is still there, the feeling that she would be making a huge mistake if she were to go home deep-set inside her chest.

They walk all day, Starly alternating between scavenging and catching a ride on Penny, and for most of the night as well, because Penny can't seem to find a good place to sleep on the long road. There are no handy caves or even forests thick enough to hide them, so Penny keeps going, eventually starting to switch her one sneaker from one foot to the other so that neither would begin to bleed. The night is quiet, and she is glad that if Officer Jenny or anybody else is following her, at least they aren't so close that she can hear them. Each sound louder than the crackling of her own feet against the ground makes her jump, but nothing pops out at her.

If Penny had been able to access the television on which she used to spend so much time at home, or if she had been carrying her smartphone when she had run away from home, she might have seen the breaking news on the front pages of popular websites, newscasts, and possibly even some dramatic photographs on her parents' weekly newspaper. Nothing like has ever been seen before! they blared, sporting vivid images of the shocking news.

**Headline: Thousands of Pokémon on the run!**

"It was in the middle of the night when it started," says a woman, standing outside her small house in New Bark Town. "I heard this cracking sound, and when I raced outside, our family Growlithe had broken through the fence!" The woman goes on to tearfully recount how she had seen the rest of the family's Pokémon heading the same way, as well as several Pokémon from her neighbors' houses and the new Starter Pokémon from Prof. Elm's lab. This incident was not isolated, however. Far from it. Pokémon across the Sinnoh region, and even some beginning to migrate from other regions, are beginning to break out of houses and migrate across the nation. They have proved surprisingly skillful in evading reporters and even experienced trackers, but keep reading! Will we discover the secret of these migrating Pokémon? Will we find the goal to which they're traveling? We don't know yet...


	12. Author's Note

**Hello there ;o; I'm just posting this AN to tell you guys that I won't be able to update Pathways for a while... really sorry, I have no idea if anybody cared about the fic but I just don't have enough time right now to balance this and Kickstart. I'm not giving up on it, and I'll come back to it one day. owx thanks all for the support you've given me so far! 3**


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